Abstract
Consumption and work are two integral aspects of individuals’ lives. This research suggests that merely thinking about different types of purchases (i.e., experiential and material) can influence individuals’ job-related motivations, including preference for big-picture (vs. detail) orientation jobs, the tendency to maximize collective (vs. individual) outcomes, and follower motivations. Through four experiments using various manipulations of purchase-related thoughts, this research demonstrates that thinking about experiential (vs. material) purchases activates a higher level of mental construal, which consequently strengthens individuals’ preference for big-picture (vs. detail) orientation jobs, increases their tendency to maximize collective (vs. individual) outcomes, and enhances their follower motivations when they receive communication messages from a leader who is hierarchically distant. Furthermore, the temporal distance of the purchase-related thoughts moderates the proposed effects, further supporting individuals’ mental construal as the underlying mechanism.
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